After another early morning shooting in Albany on Wednesday, Police Chief Eric Hawkins and Mayor Kathy Sheehan spoke to the media at City Hall about the ongoing violence and what they believe is working well to try to combat it.

Hawkins and Sheehan told people in the city of Albany that one shooting is too many and, so far in 2020, they’ve made 58 arrests.  

“We’re having so many partnerships during this period of time we have faith based organizations who are working with us community outreach individuals who reside in this community who just want to help,” Hawkins said

One of those faith-based partnerships seems to be making an impact.

“Religious leaders, officers hand-in-hand, I think that’s going to make a difference. This is fresh, so you’ve got to give it [time],” said Bishop Avery Comithier of Elijah Missionary Church on Second Avenue. “But so far we’ve gotten good response.”

Comithier heads up “Pastors on Patrol,” and it only started a little more than two weeks ago.

“Most people go to church somewhere and so now they’re looking for the church to be visible for them other than ‪Sunday morning and so that’s the vision and that’s what we’re carrying out,” Comithier said.

Comithier is partnering with the city and the Albany Police Department to do walks on the beat with officers. He’s gotten other local religious leaders of all denominations to join him, hoping to earn the trust of community members. 

“I believe Pastors on Patrol bridges that gap so that people can be reassured because now they say, ‘the police are doing this, but pastors are there, so we trust the pastors,’ and know that they will do the right thing on their behalf,” Comithier said.

On Wednesday, Comithier met up with Officers Joel Caldwell and Nick Carpenter, who are on the beat in Albany’s South End. 

“This area seems nice,” Comithier said while walking through a neighborhood on Grandview Avenue.

Together, they walk through the neighborhood to assess issues and chat with people who live there.

“Right up there, we had a homicide, right on that corner up there,” Caldwell said, pointing to the corner of Grandview and Second. “We had constant shootings right up there a year-and-a-half, two years ago, and then you have this, we have really good pockets in this city.”

Comithier says they’re making progress and getting people to open up. The city is helping support the organization and all of the pastors involved are going to monthly meetings to discuss how things are working in their neighborhoods.

“And then we can bring it all together, ‘Do you need help up there?’ and then we’ll shift and we’ll double force,” Comithier said.

“We’re not police, but we’re religious leaders, to help this community rebuild, regain the trust. Not only regain the trust with the police, but regain the trust with each other,” Comithier said.

Comithier and other pastors are meeting up with APD officers on their beats several times each week. He says they are looking for some support raising funds for special “Pastors on Patrol” t-shirts for each pastor, which cost $40 each, as well as heavy coats so they can walk around in the winter.